Gospel Reader

Question: Through your fellowship, we see that our thoughts about the Lord’s return and the rapture really did just come from our own conceptions. We have already seriously gone against the Lord’s words. That being said, how should we wait for the Lord’s return and the rapture now? Can you talk about this in a bit more detail?

2018-10-14 10:06:43113

Answer: The saints’ hopes of being raptured are mainly based on the Lord Jesus’ own words: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jhn 14:2-3). We interpret the Lord Jesus’ words based on our own conceptions and imaginations. We think that because the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven on a cloud, the place the Lord has prepared for mankind must be in heaven. Therefore, we have been waiting for the Lord Jesus to return and raise us into heaven. In addition, we particularly revere Paul’s words: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Therefore, we started to hope that the Lord would raise us into heaven when He returns. Different people have different understandings of the rapture. Most people think that when the Lord arrives, He will raise the saints up into heaven to meet Him. We have hoped for this kind of rapture for many years. Well, what is the rapture really? Most people aren’t quite clear about that. The mystery of the saints’ rapture was only revealed when Almighty God arrived. Almighty God says, “People imagine that ‘rapture’ means rising from below unto up high. That is utterly wrong. Rapture means selection after having been predestined by Me, and refers to all those who were predestined and are chosen, … and nothing is more at odds with the conceptions of man. All who have a share in My future household will have been taken before Me: This is the absolute truth, it is immutable, it can be refuted by no man, and it strikes back against Satan. All who were predestined by Me will be taken before Me” (from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning). Almighty God’s words are very clear. “Being caught up” is not what we think—being taken into the air from the earth and meeting the Lord in the clouds. Nor is it being taken up to heaven. It means that when God returns to earth to speak His words and do His work, we will hear God’s voice and will be able to follow Him and obey His work in the last days. This is the true meaning of being caught up before God’s throne. All who can distinguish the Lord’s voice, find the truth in Almighty God’s words, accept the truth, and return to Almighty God are the wise virgins. They are the gold, silver and precious stones that have been “stolen” by the Lord and returned to His house because they are all of good caliber and can understand and accept the truth. They can understand God’s voice. They are the ones that have truly received the rapture. They are the overcomers who will be made when God does His work as He secretly descends to earth in the last days. Ever since Almighty God started His work of the last days, more and more of the people that truly thirst for God’s appearance have recognized His voice in Almighty God’s words. One after another, they have accepted God’s work of judgment in the last days. They have been caught up before God’s throne to meet with Him face-to-face and accepted the watering and nourishing of His words. They have gained true knowledge of God. Their corrupt dispositions have been cleansed and they have managed to live out the reality of the truth in God’s words. They have already obtained God’s abundant salvation. These people have already been made overcomers before the great catastrophes arrive. They have been obtained by God as the firstfruits. Those who hold onto their own conceptions and imaginings and blindly wait for the Lord to come and take them up to heaven, they who reject God’s work of judgment in the last days are the foolish virgins. They are the ones who will be forsaken by God. They are destined to suffer in the disasters; they will cry and gnash their teeth. This is a fact.